Ferguson, Missouri, to pay out $4.5m to settle debtors’ jail lawsuit

City where police killed Mike Brown in 2015 was defendant in class-action suit by plaintiffs detained over inability to pay city fines

The city of Ferguson, Missouri, will pay out $4.5m to thousands of plaintiffs who allege that the city jailed them because of their inability to pay fines, fees and other municipal costs.

The multimillion-dollar settlement is in response to a class-action lawsuit filed against Ferguson in 2015, the legal advocacy non-profit ArchCity Defenders announced on Tuesday. Ferguson officials were accused of jailing [plaintiffs] in deplorable conditions for an inability to pay and without the necessary legal process", read the press release.